Card-delivery device.



'E.-W. TOWNE'.

CARD DELIVERY DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 29, 11508 Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

FFICE.

ERNEST W. TOWNE, OF AUBURNDALE, MASSACHUSETTS.

CARD-DELIVERY DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

Application filed July 29, 1908. Serial No. 445,855.

To all :whom 'it may concern:

Be 1t known that I, ERNEST W. TowNE,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Auburndale,in the county of MiddleseX and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Im provements in Card-Delivery Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is the construction' of an improved device for automatically delivering a card upon the introduction of a designated coin or check and the proper manipulation of a plunger or other instrumentality.

In carrying this invention into effect I prefer to interleave or insert between the cards, env-elops or other similar objects to be delivered, an equal number of cards or strips of paper, metal or other material by means of which the carddelivery hook or hooks are insured in their engagement with but a single card, while such cards or strips are adapted to each free itself from the remainder immediately after having performed its function, thereby permitting the next following card or strip to similarly control the card-delivery hooks.

Referring to the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pile of cards and what I term inserts in position to be acted upon by a check-controlled member. Fig. 2 is a plan view of an insert and of the delivery hook. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a pile of cards and their delivery hook, showing the inserts in section. Fig. 4 is a front sectional elevation of the card delivery cabinet. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the check-controlled delivery mechanism.

The articles to be delivered are preferably postcards 1, but the same device may be employed for postal-cards, envelops, photographs, sheets of paper and other articles whose thinness predisposes a delivery hook to engage more than one at a time. Between each two of such cards is inserted one of the inserts 2, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3; the same not being superimposed for their entire area, but for a mere fraction thereof; and the cards and inserts are preferably made of substantially equal dimensions in order that when thus positioned and supported by the hook 3, the cards and inserts will counterbalance eachother.

The cards and inserts are retained in position vertically by means of the angle-irons 4:, the inserts being formed with notches 5 entered by the webs 6 of said angle-irons. In introducing the cards 1, a card is laid upon the hook 3 with its rear corners pressed back between the angle-irons 4:, and then one of the inserts is placed thereon; then another card and another insert until the cabinet is filled.

In withdrawing the lowermost card 1, I prefer to provide the hook 3 with a retraction spring 18 suitably adapted to press the hook toward the left in the showings in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 5. By pressing said hook inward,that is, toward the right,-until its shoulder 7 has passed the inner edge of the lowermost card 1, and then suddenly releasing the same, the hook will give such card a quick throw outward sufliciently to free it from the pile and deposit it upon the laterally positioned stem 8. From this stem the card tips down upon the inclined cabi-- net-bottom 9 and slides into the hands of the recipient. .To thus operate the delivery hook, I provide the plunger 10 adapted to be longitudinally pressed inward by the card-purchaser, and provided with coin-engaging fingers 11 and 12 arranged to push.

the inserted coin against the end of the stem 8. One of these fingers being adapted to suddenly yield at a predetermined point in its movement, the coin will snap out from between said fingers and stem and so permit the hook to fly back and deliver the lowermost card 1. To thus cause the yielding of one of said fingers, I show in Figs. 1 and 5 the lower finger 12 pivot-ed at its rear end to the plunger 10 and also given an intermediate joint 13. So long as this finger is sup ported by the confining walls 14 of the plunger-socket 15, such finger will remain inflexible, but the moment it passes entirely beyond such confining walls, it will buckle and permit the coin to fall. When the plunger is retracted, said walls act to restore the finger 12 to its rectilinear condition. When thus retracted, the ends of said fingers will be at the left of the coin-chute 16, and so leave the latter free for the application of a coin to the device.

In the arrangement of the delivery hook 3, I prefer not to have it move much if any to the left beyond the position indicated in Fig. 2, in order that it may always remain supporting the pile of cards and inserts close below their center of gravity. If the said hook goes too far toward the left, the pile will drop at its rear face and be so canted as to materially interfere with the proper working of the delivery means. But this position of the hook does not carry it free of the front edge of each insert 2, and consequently the lowermost one thereof cannot vdrop to the floor of the cabinet after the withdrawal of the card just below it. I therefore form the inserts 2 with notches 17 positioned to avoid the two prongs of the hook, as shown in Fig. 2. Consequently, the instant an insert has performed its task of keeping the shoulders of the hook or hooks from engaging more than the lowermost card, and such card has been snatched away, then the lowermost insert will drop out of the way and permit the card next above to descend to the hook, while the insert supported by such card will in its turn act to protect the other cards but the one below it from the action of the hook or hooks.

lVhat I claim as my invention and for which I desire Letters Patent is as follows, to. wit

1. The combination with a pile of cards and the like, of a series of inserts interleaved between said cards, posts confining said in serts against withdrawal, and a reciprocating device adapted to engage and withdraw the lowermost of said cards, said inserts being formed with a deep recess for avoiding said member, and also wlth lateral recesses engaging said posts.

2 he combination with a pile of cards and the like, of a series of inserts interleaved between said cards, posts confining said inserts against withdrawal, and a re ciprocating hook adapted to engage and Withdraw the lowermost of said cards, said hook not moving beyond the limits of said inserts, and said inserts being formed with a recession for avoiding said hook and dropedge of the lowermost card, and means for giving the hook a movement acting to throw such lowermost card out from beneath the pile.

t. The combination with a pile of cards and the like, of a number of inserts interleaved between said cards, said cards and inserts only partially overlapping, a hook supporting said cards and inserts and having a limited longitudinal play, means for moving said hook into engagement with the edge of the lowermost card, and means for giving the hook a sudden movement acting to throw such lowermost card out from beneath the pile; said inserts being notched to avoid said hook and permit each to drop when a card has been withdrawn from be neath it.

5. The combination with a pile of cards or the like, of a number of inserts interleaved between said cards, said cards and inserts only partially overlapping, a hook supporting said cards and inserts and adapted to be engaged with an edge of the lower most card and to withdraw the same, and two angle irons for positioning said cards and inserts; the inserts being formed with notches entered by one web of each angleiron.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention, I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of July, 1908.

ERNEST W. TOWNE.

Witnesses A. B. UP-HAM, \VARREN N. Annns. 

